Wednesday, July 15, 2009

SO, as you know, Dr. Horrible has been guest posting here. But then a funny thing happened. Apparently, he decided he would send Randall Munroe some thoughts on xkcd, and ended up chatting with him on IRC, and then Randy made him feel so bad about this blog that he decided he couldn't keep posting on it. So that's....weird.

He did have something he wanted to share with you though, which was his proof that I am not Randall! Can you believe it? Finally! See what happened was that he was IMing both of us at the same time. And then to prove that we weren't just the same person switching between computers or accounts or something, I just started typing numbers in increasing order, just so he knew I couldn't be typing anything else at the time. Anyway, he took a screenshot of both of our conversations, here it is: FINAL PROOF. Hope that's good enough for you, you skeptical bitches.

Dr. Horrible did also send me his IRC chat log with Randy, but I don't really want to post it. Eventually I will (so don't let me forget I have it) but not right now.-----------------------------OH HEY WHAT there's a new comic! I guess as long as I am here I should talk about it.

For some reason this comic seems to give off major Ron Paul vibes. Well, I guess I know the reason, it's that all the people have that same awful condescending way of thinking and existing. Of course, this comic is making fun of that, I suppose, so that's good. It still makes me feel irritated the way anyone who talks about "sheeple" does.

I guess the problem is that they are all just sitting on a subway (speaking of which - recognize it?). That's not the place I usually think of this sort of thinking happening. I tend to sit on subways and think about the other people there as being actual people with actual lives. Sure, they might be just sitting there doing nothing for a while but that's because they are on a freaking subway, what they hell are they supposed to do? Start shouting "9/11 was an inside job" right on the train?

So what I'm saying is, this comic would be better if there was there was this idea that that's what people on trains were thinking, and then this would be a clever comment on that. I suppose that you could say "well, he just chose a train because it's a simple example of everyday life" but I think it's a pretty bad one, because again, there's not much to do if you are alone on a train but sit there, and perhaps read or listen to music or something.

The alt-text does, however, help a lot.

This comic is better than some. That's good to see.

-------------------

And, with Dr. Horrible retiring after one post, who else wants to write for this blog? Anyone? I just assume people are super sick of hearing me all the time. It's super easy to do and it's pretty hard to fuck up Send me an e-mail - czwheeler@gmail.com.

Posted by
Carl

230 comments:

I knew that you were weak; I am an exceptional judge of character, after all.Evidence leading to my self-evaluation:An extract from by blag ("'Xkcd' is a paragon of hilarity) concerning Dr. Hórrible, written several days before Carl Wheeler's post:"You are a much weaker man than Wheeler, it would be so very easy to break you..."Am I a genius OR a blagger? Both? Yes. Definitely.

I believe this victor over Hórrible is not solely Randall Munroe's. I believe I have also played a large role in Hórrible's eventual redemption. My brilliant blag intimidated him, as it has done to so many. I intimidated him. I won. We won.Good- 01 Evil- 00

You are next, Wheeler. Do not think I am your equal, I have been sparing you from my full, tremendous, awe-inspiring power. My mercy is finite and once it depletes... Well, farewell Mr. Wheeler.

I am just uncertain if I would be good at it. Also I don't really want to... be the guy who does that in his free time. It's bad enough that some people I know know I read this, but WRITING for it? It feels like just a step down on the ladder of doing things that are not creepy and weird

If people wish to hear more of my baseless, alcohol-fueled, incredibly vulgar rants, I suppose I could do some more posts, but be assured - I will not pussy out like Dr. horrible (sorry Doc, but I guess, unlike me, you possess a heart).

Also, this comic was...okay? The art didn't seem terribly lazy, there weren't too many words (a little verbose, but not annoyingly so), and the structure was kind of interesting (the multiple connections to a single thought bubble is actually a pretty decent technique).

That being said, it wasn't funny, and the alt-text was a pretty weak punchline. No one takes Objectivists seriously and they're easy to make fun of (as is Ayn Rand), so it's kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. All in all, I give it a C-. Still above average for xkcd as of late, though.

No, but it makes him look like an emo bitch:"Boo-hoo-hoo, someone made a blog telling me I suck, it hurts my feelings so BAD!!!"

Then he follows it up with the classic "I'm not complaining (even though I really I am and I'm just saying I'm not complaining because it makes me look like a douche to whine about people criticizing me)" response.

Then I realized that a) It's hella creepy that Dr. Horrible contacted Randall Munroe and was like, "I'm from that blog that hates you!" Mr. Munroe pretty much says as much during the chat. Hella creepy. b) Most of the time this blog engages in honest criticism. My favorite parts are when Carl or whoever suggest ways to make each strip funnier. If Randall wants to spin that negatively, that's his prerogative as the artist. But that doesn't make us the bad guys or anything.

Well... as an artist, it's important to know what to do with negative feedback, as long as it's not personal. Usually the main posts here have been focused on the comic and making some effort at constructivity. A few posts and some of the comments tend to be a bit nastier. There's not much you can really do with that, but in the end it's the price of fame.

It's possible that Randall has, based on the "xkcdsucks" URL and some of the less constructive posts, gotten the impression this place is more uniformly hostile than is accurate.

It is a bit weird that Dr. Horrible approached him that way. Not really sure what I would do in Randall's shoes, there.

This whole situation is messed up. So Dr. went and tracked down Randall and had a heart to heart?

The worst part of all is the sycophantic deferring to Randall he does at the end of the log. Yes, brag to all your friends that you got advice from the great and powerful Randall Munroe, webcomic artist.

Additionally, a notice to adoring fans of my blag: An interesting fellow and fan of the blag has electronically mailed me a letter. His name is Dr. Wonderful (He did not tell me his Christian name, unfortunately, but I can vouch that he is indeed a real doctor) and he wishes to assist me.Hopefully, he shall write a decent review and send it to me and I will use it for Wednesday's update. I can NOT vouch for his skills as a critic but I'm afraid he'll have to do. I am very busy today, tomorrow and Friday. Apologies.

I can understand hating on the comic, I mean I find it to be lackluster lately, but I don't understand why you guys have to personally hate the guy that writes it. :/ You can act all high and mighty making fun of Randall and his fans, but you're pretty much turning into the same thing, with Carl being you're Randall.

As for the comic, pretty good. Looks like the background got traced, but since when do we have witch-burnings for bad art in a stickman comic.

I suppose you could look "inquisitive" on a bus but that'd probably be boring after about 2 seconds.

"I can understand hating on the comic, I mean I find it to be lackluster lately, but I don't understand why you guys have to personally hate the guy that writes it."

Dude, why are you saying that? You want to take away the LAST thing those people have in their lives?(ha ha. ha)

In the previous post, I already thanked Randall for this comic. Condescending? Insulting? Well, you wouldn't really think so much so if you had to put up with people who act like those guys in the comic. Or more: if you ONCE ACTED like those guys in the comic. I've been there, and I'm honestly ashamed. As for the subway comment, I do think it's an appropriate place for that since you're basically standing still, surrounded by people who're also standing still and *supposedly* thinking about nothing at all and being "robots". I think it's harder to associate that kind thought with something that involved motion and things happening. If you don't think like that when you're on a subway, it's probably because you're not an asshole. Well, maybe you ARE, but just a little bit.

Overall, this comic has a very straightforward and effective style, but the message might not be quite as clear. I mean, it's the kind of thing that some of the more "geek pride" types would go "hmm, it would be funnier if like ONLY ONE guy was thinking like that and all the others were going 'duuhhh' or something". Yeah, that's a pretty absurd scenario and nobody would actually do that... ... OH, SHIT, THEY ACTUALLY DID IT:http://echochamber.me/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=42498&start=80#p1682117

OK, seriously, what the fuck? Dr. Horrible, there is no way you can drop a bombshell like that on us and then not come back to talk about it.

I completely do not understand that reaction. Every time I post, I am painfully aware that there is an actual person behind the comic I'm criticizing. That's why I try to keep myself in check and not be too harsh. I think I, and hell, most of us here, do a pretty good job in that regard. This is xkcdsucks, not randallmunroesucks.

This blog is not that mean. John Solomon's blog is mean, and I don't read it because of that (and also because Solomon is an unfunny egotistical prick.) Sure, we could be nicer and abstain from the word 'fuck', or change the title back to "xkcd: overrated" again. But why should we? We'd have about five readers if we did. There's a reason Roger Ebert writes like he does ("hated hated hated hated hated this movie", "your movie sucks"), and not "I didn't like this movie, but that's just my opinion."

What, exactly, would we have to do to this blog to not be "callous assholes"? Retitle it to xkcdneedsimprovement.blogspot.com? That's ridiculous. And we're not kids here - we all know that "needs improvement" actually means "sucks." I do think sometimes people go overboard with slamming Randall, but there's plenty of good along with the bad. If Randall actually read this blog, maybe the mood would shift and we'd be more "constructive." Right now, what fucking incentive do we have? It's too bad if we offended you, Randall, but we're not your friends. The price of success is criticism. You're a writer. You can deal with it.

Or, you know, you can keep ignoring it. Write another Firefly series, it went over well last time.

PPS. 5:59 anon, this attitude is something I want to address too, because you're wrong. Carl's posts are entertaining, but I don't think they're the core of the site. I disagree with him half the time.

Why do we hate anyone? Why can't we all just hug, and get along, and be friends?

Fuck you, hippie. If I don't like someone, I let them know. From what I know of Randall - interactions I've had with him and his fans, the work he produces (comic, blog, writings, etc.) - he seems like a douche. So I say, "Hey, Randall Munroe's a douche." When I have people at work (I'm a software developer) or at school (I go to Georgia Tech) tell me how awesome xkcd is, and I think it's not, I tell them, "I fucking hate xkcd, here's the reasons why: [insert long-ass list of reasons why I am sick and tired of hearing how good this comic is when it is simply mediocre]".

I don't hide behind some PC, peace-loving, don't-offend-people curtain of bullshit and dishonesty. A lack of honest discourse breeds stagnancy in all artists, and leads to a depreciation in the creativity and value of their work. Once again - your attitude (and the attitude of those like you) has turned xkcd and Randall Munroe into what they are today. If more people had been criticizing or offering suggestions for improvement in the beginning, he probably would have had a better attitude toward improving/challenging himself as a webcomic artist. Instead, we now have a thin-skinned, shitty artist who can't write believable dialog and believes he can do no wrong.

Fuck off, Anon, or at least have the balls to post under a fucking recognizable name. If you're too afraid to publicly express unpopular opinions, or even popular opinions to a hostile audience, you are a cowardly piece of shit who can light himself on fire and die.

Asher: That's a point. But I feel like Randall is more real than anonymous online people. I've got real connections to him, to. We each are friends with the same guy, so 2 degrees max. Anyway. I feel I know him well enough to somehow care. And if I care, I don't want to piss him off, okay? I'm not being a pussy, and this happens very seldom, but I don't want to make this guy sad. I dunno if you can identify or not. I don't think xkcd is insanely good, but I really, really like Randall Munroe the person. And I don't want to make him feel bad.

"I wouldn't want to be a celebrity, and I wouldn't want my job and art to be hated so much that a blog is named "X sucks". So fuck you."

If he really feels that way, why doesn't he come and tell us? Instead of having it come to us secondhand. This makes me like him even less, if that's possible.

Also, complaining about things you can't change, or not doing anything to actively discourage activities you dislike. Otherwise, you're an apathetic, self-pitying, worthless piece of shit. I satnd by that.

Dr. Horrible - you're free to feel that way. Hell, Randy is free to feel that way. However, you've expressed your opinion to me honestly, something Randall has yet to do (for any of us, or anyone at all, not just me personally). If he does, I'll pack up shop and never grace this blog again (well, I might, but I'll be less directly insulting and angry).

Also - if I find Randall to be a likable person, I probably won't insult him personally anymore (unless it's in a joking fashion, as I do with all of my friends), but I'll still tell him his comic is shit if I think so. Again, criticism and honesty are good; stagnation is bad.

The_P: I agree. However, I am also kind of respecting the fact that Randall is a little more sensitive by nature. I think he is at fault for not dealing with it better, and I think we are at fault for being so confrontational and demanding of him. I think the way I handled it (go to talk to him being REPRESENTATIVE of the community) was not creepy, but progressive. But now I know he doesn't like being approached by us. Maybe we should write a post, a REASONABLE post, detailing our views and telling him we understand his views. Hell, I promised him I'd try. I want us to get along. I think xkcd sucks should be renamed, kinda, but I think it's fine, if a bit confrontational.

"...having a group like xkcd sucks writ[cut off] something you care about will make you feel like absolute shit..."

Yeah... no.

One thing any serious artist learns fairly quickly is to emotionally separate him/herself from his/her work. If this does not happen, any and all criticism comes across as personal attacks, and the artist comes away from the experience insulted and discouraged.

Successful artists are willing to see their works get torn to shreds, because otherwise they will never learn what they are doing wrong and they will never get any better. It might sting a little, sure, but it's ultimately beneficial.

By admitting that criticism makes him feel like "absolute shit," he's essentially admitting that he has failed to make this distinction: he and his work are one and the same. Any harsh words towards his comics are harsh words towards him. Considering that this comic is his job, he essentially is a professional artist, and I find his attitude somewhat unacceptable for someone of his level of success.

There is one surefire way to avoid criticism. You never fucking do anything. Never publish art. Never take a stand for anything.

People have a RIGHT to criticize you for anything you do, say, or make. They have a right to criticize you for submitting your guest post, and right to criticize you for not submitting another. They have a right to criticize Randall for his comic. And they have no obligation to be nice about it.

As it happens you WERE nice about it. Go back and read your guest post. You were never disrespectful. You never lashed out.

You don't have to feel bad about that.

If you do, and it makes you not want to write any more guest posts, then that's fine. No skin off my nose. But you don't have to feel bad and neither do we. It is Randall's problem.

Pandering to him will never make him "toughen up." Actually, from all I've heard, he will never toughen up. He is never going to take anything on this blog seriously. No matter how nice we are. Because that is the sort of person he is.

His loss.

And in the end I don't care. I don't write about xkcd to make it better, though that would be a wonderful side effect. I write about it because it's entertaining. It fills the void that reading xkcd used to occupy. I don't even look at the comics anymore until Carl links to them.

We don't owe Randall anything. That is why we're not at fault.

But you know what, if you want to one-up me and be the better person, go right ahead. You can start your own blog, market it as "xkcdsucks, only nicer", and I'll read it. A lot of people would. But I bet you Randall's not one of them.

Jay: You're right. I'm not claiming to be the better person. This is a fault of mine. I quit posting because I felt bad. I wish I didn't feel bad, so I could keep posting, because I really liked posting for you guys. And I'll continue to read. My mind was totally irrational and I started to care about someone I didn't even know and stopping made me feel a bit better, so I'm not trying to one-up you; this is something I'll work on, to be MORE LIKE you.

You're right, of course. Now that I'm looking back, he is mostly at fault. I'm clearing my mind now, and I'm going to stay in this community, reading and (occasionally) commenting. I apologize to Carl and to you guys for leaving so abruptly, and maybe, if it's okay with me and Carl and you all, I might post again in the future. But not until I get a little less emotional in my online thinking.

Wait, Carl is also bummed about this now? My god, this is weird. I mean, not that I didn't notice the obvious decrease in today's vitriol content, but... Carl? Feeling bad for Randall?

Also, Horrible, what on earth actually happened in that conversation? I mean, I can respect him for not being an ass to the guy who writes for the HATE HATE HATE HATE RANDALL ARGH! blog, but the screenshots hardly reveal a heartfelt reconciliatory speech.

I can understand that he's a friend of a friend, but that doesn't change the fact that he gradually transmuted all of his humility into pretentious, entitled holier-than-thouness with a little creepy thrown in the mix, at least as far as the comic is concerned. This is still the guy who posted this. This is still the guy who shouldn't have. And I don't know about anyone else, but for me if he didn't post the crappy un-humor anymore, and dropped the so much smarter than everyone attitude, I'd go back to thinking he's the awesomest person on the internet again. I'd also be at least a little baffled if anyone on this blog didn't. Did you ask him, by the way? Ask him what's with all the raping your daughter over number formats and the Megan stalking and the /b/-tard tendencies? I would love to know what he's been thinking.

Speaking of which, this guy goes to 4chan, and yet he guilt trips you over you not liking the fact that his comic started, well, sucking a little? I'm not gonna say the h-word but sheesh. Weird.

Oh and, what awesome job is he talking about? I thought he quit NASA to live off the webcomic. It's still better than most out there, including mine, but "webcomic artist" is hardly so awesome it justifies everything he does. Why the hell did he quit in the first place, anyway? It's not like he updates every day or something. I don't see why drawing xkcd would take so much time as to be impossible with a job.

But not nearly as whiney as THIS WHOLE FUCKING AFFAIR makes Dr. Horrible look. I mean, man. Saying that you're going to post a whole week for the awesome XKCD Sucks blog and that you'll stick it to the Mandall and then quitting after ONE post is lame enough, but doing so because you suddenly realised it might hurt the author's feelings? Please.

But hey, I hope Doctor Horrible's professor finds him totally awesome for getting advice from an internet celebrity.

"Hey, if I could make a living drawing stick figures and convincing people to buy t-shirts based on it, I'd quit just about any 9-to-5 job and do that instead.

Well, at least I would if I lacked any self-respect."

I would do it regardless, self-respect be damned. But I sure wouldn't email critics that they "made my life less happy." I'd be too busy rolling around naked in huge piles of money to care about critics.

Also: I'm thinking about guest posting. It'll probably consist primarily of "hey this is really condescending and annoying and also a copy of this comic I can't find in his fucking archive so you'll have to link to it in the comics."

But with my luck it'll probably be an entire week of Car Talk comics, which means all my comments would be "It could be worse."

HA HA. ok seriously though, this certainly turned more interesting than I was expecting! perhaps this is just the sort of introspective conversation that this blog needed. By the way, the part of the chat that you see there is basically what the whole thing is like, there's much more in terms of length but not much more in terms of ideas.

In Dr. Horrible's defense, I think he got in a bit deeper into this whole world than he expected. I remember the self-doubt and confusion I felt when Randy e-mailed me and thinking "oh god I've been a jerk, what have i DONE" for a few days. So I think maybe i know what he was going through. Still, the whole thing ended up a little weird. But so interesting!

You asked him for advice just so you could brag. Don't lie and say you didn't engage in a bit of sycophancy (cock-sucking in internet parlance), because we can all see that claim is bullshit.

To the point at hand, XKCD rose to fame because Randall wanted it to. He did by-the-numbers pandering to the nerd community and in the early days would attack larger comics with unusual vitriol likely to generate irate response traffic (also he ripped of Black hated man).

Now his comic sucks, and people are calling him on it. That's fame. He knew it signing up. He is no more worthy of sympathy then Joe The Plumber or HipHop Artist 124..uhhh....Roots, The.

aa97464: Sycophancy would be sucking up to Randall for personal gain. The only thing that might be counted as personal gain would be my professor understanding that hash tables are better for giant datasets with a lot of changes made to them.

If I was trying to suck Randall's dick, I WOULD HAVE GIVEN HIM MY REAL NAME. But I didn't because I felt I was kind of a dick for some of the conversation.

Look. I can understand this. But why do you guys hate me? Because I accidentally cared about someone's feelings? That's kind of a stupid reason.

I'm fully aware that it's Randall's fault. He should care less about criticism. But the fact is, he isn't going to, and this will continue to make him feel bad. And I don't want to do that.

Now please stop calling me a sycophant without even looking up the definition.

Oh and Dr. Horrible, randy shouldn't care less about critique. He should just stop being a little bitch and whining about it, and take it for what it's supposed to be: Help.

I can understand forgiving a 3-year old for going on a crying rage when you tell him that his painting could be better because real people are not, in fact, blue. But randall is a grown man and going soft on him because he's a little bitch is doing the opposite of helping him. It's supporting that behaviour.

I think we need to get back on track with what this site is. It's not hating Randy (even tho I feel some/a lot of us might) its hating the abomination of a cartoon that is xkcd.

Carl, if you're looking for guest posts I'd love to do one. Although, I can guarantee it will be rather lengthy and probably focusing more on the web comic in the sense of the web comic, and less on the black & white humor in that days panel.

The personal gain I'm guessing you could get out of this would be you *telling* your professor that you got advice from Randall. (On a side note, are you kidding me? You think Randall Munroe knows better than anybody else whether hash tables vs. binary searches are better?)

"Sycophancy would be sucking up to Randall for personal gain. The only thing that might be counted as personal gain would be my professor understanding that hash tables are better for giant datasets with a lot of changes made to them."

You didn't do it because you wanted your professor to understand that hash tables are better for giant datasets with a lot of changes made to them, though. You did it because you wanted your professor to know that Randall himself advised you.

But maybe that's just my understanding of the words "I want to tell my professor I got advice from you."

Adam: Randall Munroe is a noted NASA worker and my professor is a fan of him. I figured a combination of both would be advantageous.

Fred: Well, I did want him to understand that. But also I just thought it was really cool I talked to Randall and wanted him, an xkcd fan, to know as well.

I was sucking up to nobody. I admit it was cool that I talked to him; he's kind of an internet celebrity. And I wanted my professor to know it because it's cool. But I also figured a grad who worked for NASA would have some credibility.

Well Dr Horrible, to be honest mate in my opinion you seem a little silly right now. No matter what your personal feelings may be, you volunteered yourself to guest post and backing out after just one suggests a lack of commitment. The fact you feel bad for criticising Munroe only when you feel "a connection" seems a tad immature... Distinctly amateur performance, mate.

Wow, Doctor Horrible is quite the little bitch. To say he folded like a deck of cards would be an insult to the deck of cards.

Carl,Your fucking critique is pathetic. It's not the place you think people would be thinking this? What exactly do you do if you're on a train and don't have a book or something else to occupy your time. But, even if you were right, it doesn't change anything. It would be as if you criticized a joke thusly:

This is completely unrealistic. First off, the Pope would have, like, a million bodyguards. And why is he with just some rabbi? Will any rabbi do? Why not have the papal equivalent of a rabbi? Oh, and I'm sure they would walk into a bar, yeah right. They would have a meeting in a temple or a Catholic church, come on! And they would never switch hats. Those are scared(sic) symbols for both of these men, they wouldn't just switch on a whim...

And so on and so forth, all the while forgetting that it's a fucking joke and sometimes the absurdity is part of it. Seriously, you do this often when you're not just out and out misunderstanding something in the comic.

tl;dr I know I caved emotionally too quickly, and I'm working on it, okay?

I told you it was a flaw of mine. I concede that point. It's not okay that I started to feel bad after one short chat with Randall. I get that.

And I'm working on it. The most you can ask of someone is to do their best to change, and I am. Please lay off; I am trying to be more callous, alright?

As for the "cock-sucking"...straight from my mouth: I did want to tell my professor I talked to Randall, mostly. I thought he would think it was cool. But since Randall doesn't know my identity, I couldn't have been sucking up to him, and having talked to Randall Munroe isn't enough to suck up to a professor. So please, PLEASE stop telling me I'm a sycophantic cock-sucker. I may have emotionally caved too quickly and that's on me, but I'm sucking up to NOBODY.

It's more name-dropping than anything. It's "whoops, I just dropped a name. Does anyone see that name I just dropped? I just dropped it, and I am not sure where it went. Let me know if you see it, all right? It's, uh, it's a name. One that I dropped."

I do it all the time.

Like, I would ask Randall Munroe to do shit just so I could have it for xkcd sucks. It's not that I like the dude, I just want to name-drop etc.

tl;dr I'm probably right about your misuse of the word "sycophant", but I might not be.

"A sycophant is a servile person who, acting in his or her own self interest, attempts to win favor by flattering one or more influential persons...."

How can I win favor if Randall doesn't know my name?

And I thought it would be a cool thing to share with my professor. I don't think there is anything there for me, self-interest wise, but if I am misunderstanding the defintion (I won't rule that out, actually), then maybe I am being a tad bit sycophantic. Just not to Randall.

But if something as minor as what I'm doing (sharing a cool thing with my professor) is sycophantic, who ISN'T a little bit sycophantic? If you met some cool actor and told him you admired his work, then told a friend of yours about it, would you be a sycophant? No. You're misusing the word.

I'm getting very lonely. My little Randy doesn't visit me any more... Ever since he started his dreadful "web-comic". I know it may be a teensy bit selfish of me but I just want him to quit the comic and pay some attention to me for once.

I didn't mean to ruin the fun. I promised Carl I wouldn't troll. I don't think I really did much; the people to start this whole argument really ruined the comic thread. I liked the comic anyhow, though.

Can someone please explain all this drama to me? Preferably you, Horrible, cuz I just don't get it! This blog makes his life a bit sadder? What the fuck? He doesn't like it, then all he has to do is stop joking about stalking people and raping their daughters, for fuck's sake! I mean, really, is that so hard? What, what's his excuse now? He was so terrified of facing yet another wave of "OMG Randy's illustroblog is missing the funnay again" critique, so he just went with a joke, any joke, no matter how tasteless?

No honestly, I wanna know. There's gotta be something I'm missing here. Think any of you can lend me a hand, folks?

I had a longer write up, but my browser ate it, here's the short version:

Doc Horrible: You felt bad for standing up to Randall, so why not stand up for him? Instead of voting with your feet indicating that you'd like to see a change, why didn't you post an entry that actually effected the change you'd like to see?

Randall: You're educated and claim some level of introspection, so you must realize that what you do actively works towards you becoming a celebrity. You wouldn't be the first to count the cost and decide it was too much, and there's no shame in that. Bands that could make it big stay underground for that very reason. You made your bed, now you get to sleep in it. Don't complain that you reap what you sow, or don't get to have your cake and eat it, too. Coming from a scientific background myself, it seems especially odd that you'd be sensitive to criticism since science is a very harsh field and isn't very shy with its criticism.

the blog does go to far sometimes, even carl should admit. but that doesn't change what it is, the needed criticism to help xkcd get better. it isnt xkcd: is it shitty today?

I don't think anyone should feel bad for pointing out bad elements of god damned comics! Attacking a comic is not the same as attacking a person, especially when a great number of the problems would be fixed if only Randall had an editor! and by editor i mean an unbiased third party, someone who can honestly point out what is wrong with a particular strip, and get it fixed.

Haha, "I have a really cool job and an awesome life that I love. So there's a price for that"The price of selling t-shirts to idiot sycophants having them spam karma to you on reddit is having people who are making as milquetoast criticism as humanly possible?

What a fucking pompous jerk. XKCDsucks cuts their criticism of XKCD with so much cock sucking that you'd have trouble telling if it's actually criticism or not. It's probably the most light hearted criticism of any webcomic ever. Nowhere as vitriolic as "your web comic is bad and you should feel bad". I mean the whole premise is that XKCD was once good! They're all FANS you crybaby faggot.

Carl is fucking scared senseless of being mean, and he barely ever is. Though Randall's world is such a fucking fuzzy bunny nerd fantasy bubble that he's even sensitive to what is effectively a blog where they root that he stops being so derivative. Maybe if he spent a little time away from his own groupthink he'd get a little better grip on reality.

He just, like every idiot, can't believe something he produced that SO MANY PEOPLE LOVE might actually be shitty. It really bothers him to have people who actually liked his drivel at one time, decide they don't like it anymore. He's much like so much Jim Jones, insisting everyone at the "Peoples Raptor Protection Project" drink the koolaid and go lay down in the ball pit.

Carl if you are tired of updating we can do another Rob week. Those sure are popular with the ladies. And by ladies I mean 'pathetic whinging bitchy fuckwits,' and by popular I mean 'causative of hilarious imbecilic rage.'

Congratulations, you've encountered the darker side of xkcdsucks. Namely, people who are full of vitriolic hatred for Munroe and xkcd (ironically, probably at least partly because it's "cool" to do so and people who hate xkcd are just smarter, right?), and who can't understand even a little bit of what you experience, namely, having a shred of basic human compassion for another human being even though you aren't face-to-face with him. So, they have no problems with turning that hatred on you for not providing them the hate-fuel they craved.

Basically, you know everything everyone's been saying about how Randall is whiny and, like any artist, should learn to take criticism? Yeah, you gotta deal with that too.

People are dicks, and sometimes you just can't explain things, especially on the internet, so the best thing to do is just back down.

Yes, and passing judgment on people who often come here to vent their frustrations - a sort of healthy catharsis mingled with a legitimate disdain over the decline in quality of a webcomic they once truly appreciated - in order to establish your own moral superiority is much more noble.

Also, what gives you the right to judge anyone in the first place? We're all only human, and assuming anything about the attitudes and motivations of people whose only contact with you is through the anonymous screen of the Internet is laughable.

I just don't think "You had a moment of weakness where you CARED ABOUT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING!!!" is a good reason to internet-gang-rape someone. *shrug*

@The_P: Yeah, I may have come off a lil' testy, sorry.As it turns out, I rather detest bullies, and it looked an awful lot like 20 jerks piling on someone for, well, having a totally understandable twinge of (somewhat misplaced) compassion. And completely not listening to his attempt to explain. I hope you can understand how that might not look too good, and, in fact, might make you look like a total dick.That, and throwing out "self-righteous" and "how DARE you judge me???" Y'know, absolutely nothing sounds more like a bulshitty excuse for being a jackass. Take care you're not one, I have no way of knowing either way.

@Poore: I kind of agree with Frogwarrior. I mean, some of these Anon's have been fucking insane. Yeah, I'm judging them. Maybe they should learn to deal with criticism, and come back when they aren't telling people to commit suicide, eh?

And just to be clear, Poore, I'm not referring to you. You're kind of a dick sometimes, too, but you do it with style, so I let it go as personal difference in approach. Of course, when I say "let it go", I don't mean I have any power to restrain you (and I shouldn't have any), I just mean in terms of wholly-unjustified-but-constructive-criticism.

This is absolutely pathetic. What's next, a mass jerking contest? You're all taking the internet too seriously. Would you feel better if I gave you tampons and made a site for "CAD Could Be Better"? You can do any comic and make it "better" in the opinion of yourself - but it may be worse.

I claim no amazing ability to improve the XKCD comic in anyone else's eyes but my own. But here, on a blog dedicated to ripping apart the suckiest of comics from this particular comic... there is an emotional jerkfest going on! What are you all doing!? Taking it seriously - bleeding hearts because you might shatter someone's fragile glass-like psyche?

It's fine to abstain from personal attacks... but at the same time you are seeing the person in the comics, and thus they are a worthy target.

Well, first of all, this is a phenomenon I've never personally experienced. I have never been on hurricane-devotee forums, I have never even heard this sort of thing in passing. Generally, the people I interact with don't much care about hurricanes before, during, or after the event, and they especially don't care about how BADASS EXTREME the meteorology is. So, on the first level, the whole thing is dealing with a situation that is unfamiliar to me.

Of course, that's not to say I don't think I get the idea. There is, I'm sure, a catastrophe lust among hurricane enthusiasts (is there porn for these people? like, could you do some stuff with wires and have people copulating while floating about in a hurricane?). And so, logically, there could be comparisons to other sorts of catastrophe lusts.

Watching the Space Shuttle launch for the possibility of disaster is probably not the best example he could've chosen, since there've been only a handful of disasters and plenty of reasons to enjoy Shuttle launches. They're a testament to the power of human engineering and physics and mathematics and computer programming, which means that people like Randall could like them for an entirely different set of reasons! But, I suppose, it's possible that a sociopath like Mr. Hat might like watching it for that reason.

(Should I praise Randall for avoiding the obvious but still wholly appropriate example of stock car racing? Did he leave it out because it occurred to him, but he respected his audience too much to include such an obvious example; or because he never thought of it in the first place and just went with the vastly less appropriate [but vastly nerdier] Shuttle example? I suspect the latter, since I have no reason to believe Randall respects his audience at all, OR would ever pass up a chance to mock stock car racing enthusiasts.)

Then we get Mr. Hat's two examples, one of which is kind of creepy and the other is kind of Most Dangerous Game. Do doctor's really harvest organs right there in the operating room? Don't they usually do that sort of thing in, like, morgues? I know I'm mostly taking cues from Scrubs but still.

And, um, I guess actually the entire comparison fell apart with the Most Dangerous Game shit. Because that's not actually watching something, hoping for catastrophe--that's deliberately creating catastrophe and going out of your way to hurt people. That's less the passive sociopathy of a stock car fan, still less the active but playful and intelligent sociopathy of Classic Mr. Hat, and more the horrifying and not actually all that hilarious sociopathy of a demented serial killer. Now, maybe Randall's gonna go in an ultra-serious direction and have Mr. Hat become a corrupt CIA agent addicted to killing and Mr. Beret become the Donnie Wahlberg clean cop who silently tracks him down and Mr. Hat's wife is like Leonardo DiCaprio, deep undercover and freaking out, and the art'll be done by Frank Miller and it'll rock my tits off. Or maybe Randall just accidentally wrote his character as a brutal murderer and played it for a weak joke about... how it's funny when people are murderers, I guess?

Yes, yes, of course there's no joke. There's Mr. Hat making sort-of creepy comparisons of catastrophe-watching habits and also revealing that he is a hunter of men. And then, after the punchline (the fourth panel, which SHOULD include Mr. Hat's first line from the fifth; having them separate reduces the impact and continuity of his monologue too much), we get yet another "I'm explaining the joke!" line, which robs the comic of yet more momentum and forces us to leave with an impression, not of a socially divergent madman who creatively torments people, but with the half-hearted reproach of his girlfriend.

Well, actually, we leave with a restatement of the first panel, if we count the alt text. Pure redundancy.

An aside: It seems pretty often that Randall restates the joke in his alt text. In fact, sometimes he basically restates what a character says in the alt text. Usually, I interpret the alt text as an author's commentary on the joke, or some sort of non-character/narrator/something providing additional funnies, or some such thing. But often, in addition to being lazy and repetitive, Randall seems to be using the alt text to include dialogue from characters. Could this inconsistency contribute to our habit of reading Randall's personal life into his comics?

Actually, I suspect that most of the reason we read Randall's personal life is because he makes comics whose sole purpose is to reflect some aspect of his readers' personal lives with a GOOMH!!!!! moment. If these are intended to resonate with readers, and he's not simply exploiting them by imagining scenarios he thinks they've gone through but which he never really has, then Randall's actual life shows through the comic quite frequently. I think any time Randall's comic produces the reaction "Wow, I've thought that TOO!" it ought to be fair that the "too" means that, yes, Randall thought it.

So, we have mostly forgettable art (the combination of details on the TV with the featureless void of the rest of reality strikes me as off, but not terribly so), a non-punchline that's deflated further by after-the-joke commentary on it, further degradation of Mr. Hat, a reference to a sub-culture I never knew existed, redundant alt-text that does nothing but rehash the setup of the joke, peculiar omissions, and really nothing redeeming. Overall, quite awful.

the only way to audition for a guest post is to e-mail me - I read the comments but not always with enough attention to note down stuff like that, especially if it is comment #157 on a post. But i got a ton of e-mails already for guest posting. More on this in...the future.

Doctor Horrible, you knew what you were getting yourself into when you signed on to post for xkcd sucks. You also know what you were getting yourself into when you decided to quit. I have no pity for you! (okay maybe some) But you can criticize and still be nice. It's called "constructive criticism." If you are afraid to give criticism because you don't wanna be hurting someone's feelings, that means that that someone is a douche who cannot take criticism.

Person #1 doooo itttttttt

aloria doooo itttttttttttttttt

Ramsey doooo ittttttttttt

(do you guys see a pattern here)

3:39 anon: you are my hero. That was just wonderful. Actually all the edits for this one were great. Good job everyone!

5:59 anon: No. Just no. We do not worship Carl here. Also Randy has quite the (undeserved) ego. I do not hate him, I hate his attitude. So basically what Jay and poore said. Just because we share an opinion sometimes does not mean we always do. And when we do we don't go HAW HAW I THOUGHT THAT ONCE BEFORRRRE god you are so great get out of my headddd

poore i must disagree with one small detail: i am indeed a fucker... and a good one at that. And I thank you to not make this mistake again. I STILL LOVE YOU THO OKAY

man carl post those damn emails too I AM SO JEALOUS DOES THIS MEAN IF I GUEST POST I GET TO READ ALL THIS SEKRIT THINGS

STOP WITH THE HOMOPHOBIC COMMENTSSTOP WITH THE HOMOPHOBIC COMMENTSYou are allowed to hate Randall, fine. But there is no reason to help contribute to this culture in which gay people are made to feel subhuman. Don't call people "faggots", "sissies" and don't imply that sucking cock is bad. Nevermind your telling a person who felt bad for hurting someone that he should die. I have never seen so much irrational hate firsthand in my entire life.

Malethoth, I sort of assumed the step up from passive sociopathy to actively going out and playing the most dangerous game... was the joke? It's not a great one, but at least it's character-based humor and not NERDY POP CULTURE REFERENCE LOL.

IMO this wasn't a horrible comic, which makes two in a row for Randy that didn't make me want to commit physical violence against someone. Maybe it's not a coincidence and he's finally improving!

Still, though, there's the whole "redundant dialogue after the punchline" thing, and the whole people not talking realistically" thing. So not a good comic, just better than, say, Monday's.

I'm going to start posting as an Anon so I don't draw too much shit for quitting. The few of you I like have defended me, which I appreciate, but apparently I'll draw far too much internet hate criticizing under the name "Doctor Horrible". So...yeah, I'm going to be an Anon. Thanks a lot, assholes.

@Ann Apolis: It's really only bad for me, personally because it means I might not have gotten the joke. I'm terrified of being sufficiently far from the "target audience" of people who like and understand every XKCD ever that my critiques will be invalid for all time.

Alternately, if the subculture really DOESN'T exist, then it's that "way too far removed from reality" business that, I think, was best demonstrated in 473.

Amanda: The imposter thing wasn't your fault. Every time I criticize a comic from now on, at least 5 people are going to tell me I should be nicer to my boyfriend Randall, or what if I hurt someone's feelings, BAAAAAAAW. It's not worth being Doctor Horrible, but I still like hanging around here, so I will. Just as not me, because everybody seems intent on making my stay here miserable.

It really does! That patronising "look at all these sheep" comic made me sick. That's what Aspeger's Randall thinks in the train??? What an utter cunt!

And Dr Horrible. Grow some balls. You were fucked over by Randall's Math, Language, and self-indulgent wanking onto IRC. If I had a friend who knew Randall I would disown that friend, remove them from my Facebook account, and destroy any connection with that friend. Knowing Randall it's only an internet friend, or a friend who stands at parties thinking they're superior - so no great loss.

I hope you feel like shit you socially-stunted nerd, Randall. Stop making your comic, and murder-suicide your friend-of-friend Horrible.

And thanks for pointing out your double post. I nearly missed that and thought there were two of you. A truly Horrible thought.

Why does Randall think people think like that? When I'm sitting on a train, I don't imagine everyone to be hateful emo trenchcoat-mafia nerds.

Well here is the explanation that was over my head... Randall thinks in this way, and HATES it in himself. He externalises that thought to other people (like the religious pervert who claims everyone is "fornicating" while he cheats on his wife with your mother).

Randall actually believes people think this way, because it's how he thinks. It's a common theme through his comics - blaming others for his awful thoughts.

Oh, and to the few still reading this thread. I humbly apologise for my spelling mistakes in my previous post. I didn't just hit the post button too quickly, I willfully ignored the typo. I am terribley terrablie sorry.

I see, so the train has nothing to do with it. Obviously a metaphor? Merely a parody of human thought patterns?

No, it's not. It is proof Randall is a disconnected loser who hates everyone, but wants people to like him.

I may not be his soul mate like you aitchy, but his persecutory delusions are evident in your pussy-licking IRC message to him (see, not sexist like Randy).

My evidence that Randall is a cock include more than one bitmap (don't say that, you sound like a nerd). Every comic he's produced shows he's a fuckwit, then there's the slogan that everyone hates, and the "shitty webcomic artists have feelings too" crap he spouted to you. All these are evidence to my previous assertions about Randall.

Oh, and what's this about the empty "linguistic value" of my post? Nowhere did I promise to have an anonymous comment about math, sarcasm, romance and language.

But since you asked: "Randall's a homo and he fucked your mother" - Chomsky.

The imposter thing had everything to do with me going on the Internet and posting anything at all. Think about it: if I never commented on this site (or better yet, posted anonymously), no one could ever be an imposter (of me, at least). If I (and a significant number of everyone else, too) never even read this blog, no one would ever even care enough to be an imposter. Now, in your case, if you had never posted, you would have nothing to feel guilty about! And if you had not backed out of posting for a week, no one would have any right to rag on you. Every action has its consequence, just yours was a little suckier on both ends (that's what she said?).

What the hell is this?

Welcome. This is a website called XKCD SUCKS which is about the webcomic xkcd and why we think it sucks. My name is Carl and I used to write about it all the time, then I stopped because I went insane, and now other people write about it all the time. I forget their names. The posts still seem to be coming regularly, but many of the structural elements - like all the stuff in this lefthand pane - are a bit outdated. What can I say? Insane, etc.

I started this site because it had been clear to me for a while that xkcd is no longer a great webcomic (though it once was). Alas, many of its fans are too caught up in the faux-nerd culture that xkcd is a part of, and can't bring themselves to admit that the comic, at this point, is terrible. While I still like a new comic on occasion, I feel that more and more of them need the Iron Finger of Mockery knowingly pointed at them. This used to be called "XKCD: Overrated", but then it fell from just being overrated to being just horrible. Thus, xkcd sucks.

Here is a comic about me that Ann made. It is my favorite thing in the world.

Frequently Asked Questions

Divided into two convenient categories, based on whether you think this website

Rob's Rants

When he's not flipping a shit over prescriptivist and descriptivist uses of language, xkcdsucks' very own Rob likes writing long blocks of text about specific subjects. Here are some of his excellent refutations of common responses to this site. Think of them as a sort of in-depth FAQ, for people inclined to disagree with this site.